Furniture Feature: Modular Bookcase Makes the Space

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Children’s preoccupations with magic always has some real world equivalent upon reaching maturity. Powers to do anything you want? Well that’s just loads of money and a solid retirement account, dear. Riding into the sunset with your one true love? That’s called watching a movie on the couch after a long day’s work. Running away and joining a new, underground society where nobody knows your name? Try meetup.com.

As for the beloved secret bookcase, there is modular furniture, the ever intriguing equivalent of hidden chambers and armoires leading to other dimensions. The possibilities are truly endless with a little ingenuity, efficiency and and elegance, the keys to a successful—not tacky—bit of modularity in the modern space.

With tides turning toward urban dwelling and more of us occupying apartments for the long term over the SFH (single family home) we are always excited to maximize the square footage of a space, our favorite example being a custom designed modular bookcase room divider of solid maple for our Vic Loft renovation.

Modular furniture and gifs were just made for each other.

Shelves are the obvious choice for maximizing storage in a medium sized loft, like our Vic Loft project above. They turn what was a passive enclosure element into an active one, ready to display one’s essentials for easy access, without commandeering valuable floor space. We took the idea of elevating things up and away and challenged ourselves to go even further. What if the shelving and drawers were the wall? What if they could be rearranged to be open or closed depending on the occupancy of the room, the event of the night (working from home versus dinner party), and the preference of the inhabitant?

Our client loved their loft space, but wanted a division between their bedroom and the main room/kitchen, something more substantial than a curtain or screen. They also wanted to keep things open and light, preserving the playful and interchangeable nature of an airy loft space. Our solution was to build a modular bookcase/storage unit that runs on a seamless track built in the floor and the ceiling. As you can see above in our gif, the configurations allow for complete division between the main room and the bedroom, opening it up on either side, or opening it up through the center with the bookshelves flanking either side. From the interior of the bedroom, the storage is more suited to personal items, with open shelving on the top portion, and spacious drawers for linens, clothing and footwear. See more stills of our sliding bookshelf in action below.